The situation in Russia has become increasingly
tense. There are hundreds of thousands of refugees in
the Northern Caucasus; there is the threat of a wide-scale
partisan war in winter, an increase in civilian casualties,
and the provocation of conflicts between the military
and the civil leadership of the country owing to unclear
political prospects in Chechnya all this becomes a serious
factor behind political destabilisation.
In August-November, 1999, the Russian
army completed its task in the Northern Caucasus, creating
for the first time for the past five years a convincing
pre-requisite for a political settlement of the problems
there. In this situation, in order to protect the security
of Russian citizens and secure strategic state interests,
we believe that it is necessary to demand that Russia's
political leadership take immediate actions and propose
the following plan: introduction of an extraordinary situation
in Stavropol region, the Daghestan Republic and other
territories on the border with the Chechen Republic.
To ensure the required minimum legal basis
for the actions of the military forces of the Russian
Federation, the following actions must be taken: pursuant
to legislation and military regulatory documents, define
the zones of military operations and publish the orders
of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces
of the RF and the decisions of the supreme governing bodies
of the country, whereby the military operations occur.
We should terminate the wide-scale bombing of the territory
of the Chechen Republic and suspend the wide-spread ground
attack.
Negotiations should be conducted with
Maskhadov as legitimately elected President of the Chechen
Republic on the following terms: all hostages should be
freed; the minimum basis should be established for a civil
law-governed state in Chechnya; the kidnapping of people
and slave trade should be curbed; terrorists announced
under international investigations should be extradited
to the authorities of the Russian Federation for further
trial or the accused should be deported beyond the territory
of Chechnya and the Russian Federation; all measures at
the disposal of the official authorities of Chechnya should
be employed to ensure the disarmament of all unofficial
military groupings; all military repressive bodies should
be removed; territory all individuals convicted of international
terrorism should not be allowed into Chechnya.
The Russian authorities are ready to provide
all kinds of support to the official authorities of the
Chechen Republic to implement these tasks. If President
Maskhadov refuses to conduct negotiations within the framework
of the aforementioned terms, a 30-day deadline should
be granted to enable all refugees to leave the Chechen
Republic. Then the aforementioned tasks will be solved
by the federal forces independently. As several hundreds
of thousands of people have already left their permanent
residence in the areas of military operation and these
numbers may soon rise, the most important task of the
state is to settle these people in secure residences and
accord them corresponding status.
To cater and provide medical services
for the people leaving their places of permanent residence,
we should deploy immediately state resources and reserves
of the Russian Federation, as well as international aid
offered by the Red Cross and different international humanitarian
organisations and governments of other countries.
To enhance the efficiency of the work
of border control stations on the administrative border
of the Ingushetian Republic and the Chechen Republic,
the Federal Border Guard Service (instead of the regiments
of the Ministry of Defence of the RF) should be employed
to exercise supervisory functions.
